Water talks at Blue Lagoon run deep
World Water Monitoring Day saw three organisations come together to discuss their contributions towards ensuring Durban rivers and beaches are safe to swim in. They also discussed the importance of regular water testing.
THREE organisations, Adopt-a-River, WaterCAN and South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), met to discuss their findings and share information on what can be done to protect our beaches and lagoons and, subsequently, our drinking water.
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They believe citizen science, and more specifically, civil-society-led testing campaigns, is the way forward if government is to be held accountable for polluted water.
To commemorate World Water Monitoring Day on September 18, WaterCAN, an initiative of OUTA, saw these water activist bodies meet at the Kingfisher Canoe Club, Blue Lagoon and on the banks of the uMngeni River, which is often considered ‘ground zero’ for the city’s E. coli crisis.
Desmond d’Sa, founder of South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), said that water is a basic need and that all citizens are responsible for preserving the precious resource.
“Since the inception of citizen science tests provided by WaterCAN, the cost of testing has been ‘massively reduced’, and therefore, the frequency of testing has increased.
“The WaterCAN test kits consist of both bacterial and chemical tests and are easy to use,” he said.
The cherry on top is that the data is readily available to the public as soon as it is uploaded to WaterCAN’s website as opposed to laboratory tests where results are only made available a few days later.
“What is good about community science is that we are developing our own science database. If we didn’t do that, we would not know what is going on,” he said.
Founder of Adopt-a-River Janet Simpkins started water testing prior to 2020 when the uMngeni River turned black.
This was due to a massive sewage spill from the nearby Northern Works Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“Then came the April 2022 floods, and Durban finally saw that we were experiencing a water quality crisis.
“That’s when Talbot started testing the water and releasing data to the public. As we go along, we learn more. This river affects so many people – business, recreational and many different communities. We have to work together.
The poor water quality has affected river and ocean life and has been detrimental to tourism. We need citizen scientists if we want to make a change,” she added.
WaterCAN KZN manager Jonathan Erasmus said that part of what has made the water activism lobby so impactful in Durban is the collaboration.
“It is the collaboration that has given us the power to take on powerful decision-makers, influence political discourse and attempt to effect change. Water is an apolitical issue, and it requires relentless lobbying. Without water justice, without holding those who have placed us in this torrid position accountable, we will not move the dial towards a cleaner, safer and healthier city, province and country,” he said.
During WaterCAN’s annual Water Testing Week (September 16 to 20), 1 500 citizen science test kits were distributed throughout South Africa.
The purpose of the project is to formulate South Africa’s largest independent data set on the health of the country’s water.
Visit www.watercan.org.za for more information.
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